Chapter 94 Maybe.
CHAPTER 94
Maybe.
SCARLETT – POINT OF VIEW
We get up immediately, shoulders tense, ready for an attack which seems impossible. Emiliano’s men couldn’t have found their way here. The estate is protected. Every inch of the ground is covered. Still, we are ready. There’s no weapon in sight, but in situations like this, everything becomes a weapon.
Together, we step into the bedroom and find our husbands.
Were they sneaking in? Snooping?
“Are we interrupting?” Luca asks, turning on the light.
My gaze locks with Roman’s. He isn’t smiling, though, and my guards are up. He knows I’m hiding something, but will he ask? He doesn’t.
“How did you know where to find us?” Adeline frowns at him.
“I know more than you think, dear wife. A lot more than you think. Are we interrupting?” He looks between us, suspicious, and I don’t blame him for it. A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. He’s right to be careful.
“No, you aren’t.” Adeline lies.
Should I be worried that she’s telling lies hours into her marriage? She’s still holding out on so much information from me, and I’m desperate to know. I want to know everything. If the Child trafficking network is as wide as she said, then she’ll need some help. Who does she work with, and why does she not trust them? I have so many questions, but timing is important.
“If you do not mind, Scarlett, I’d like to take my wife with me now. We cannot have a honeymoon for the meantime, but we might as well enjoy our time together.” He wiggles his eyebrows, and I chuckle, “Too much information, Luca.”
“You don’t have to imply anything. We’re newlyweds, so a consummation is expected.” Adeline rolls her eyes and walks to him.
He wraps his arm around her possessively and nods at us. Then, they walk towards the door.
He turns back before leaving and states, “You have elegant fighting moves, Scarlett. I can’t help but wonder who taught you.”
“Her father did.” Roman answers before I can even process the implication of Luca’s words.
“Ah, a father's love is universal. Goodnight.” He muses, then, waves goodbye, and they leave without looking back.
I ponder on his words and the sheer curiosity behind them. He wasn’t suspicious of me. He can’t be, not anymore, not after I saved his wife’s life, one way, even though she saved mine.
The fact that Adeline and I got kidnapped under his watch creates a complex for him. It is made worse by the realisation that we could have rescued ourselves. In a way, she doesn’t need him. Need is vastly different from want. I stand on the threshold of figuring everything out and getting revenge for my family. Now, I do not need Roman anymore. I can choose to disappear and never return, to vanish into thin air, but I want him, and that makes all the difference.
“Are we going to stand here all evening? I don’t mind.” Roman smiles at me.
I walk to him, swaying my hips, unashamed by my want for him.
“What do you think we should do?” I ask, taking his large hands in mine.
We’ve come so far. I’m no longer the girl working at Elite Companions, and he’s no longer the greedy bastard with no iota of self-reflection. We’re different and growing. A bit shaky, but we can be strong. We may be. I’m not quite sure what the world has prepared for us, but I know we will wade through the storm. I push away doubts from my mind and focus on the present.
“How about we watch a movie?” He suggests, leading me out of the room.
“A movie? Have any particular one in mind?” I beam like a fool as if watching a movie together isn’t the bare minimum.
“We can do a rom-com or an action movie. I don’t know, Scarlett, I’m pretty flexible when it comes to you. I’ll watch whatever you want us to.” He shrugs, and I nod.
I have been in relationships before. This isn’t my first one, but every relationship I’ve ever been in has ended badly. While I was in Oxford, I dated a guy in my first year, but it was going nowhere; it was based simply on proximity. I messed with my T.A. in my second year. The allure of a forbidden relationship kept me for a couple of months before I got bored with him. The breakup was messy and a bit too dramatic for my liking. I was so pissed when people found out. I did everything to keep it a secret, but my parents found out and were so angry. I was nineteen then.
I went through the next year without a relationship and just casual sex. Then, I met him. At twenty-one, I thought I loved him, and maybe I did. I tend to reduce whatever I felt in past relationships to nothing. I do not like to call it what it was. With him, though, it was wild, reckless, but also responsible and beautiful—my first taste of a real relationship. We broke up when I turned twenty-three because of my secrets. He was going to be a Professor, and I wouldn’t be his forever.
He asked me to marry him, and I knew that we had to end. I had dragged it on for too long.
The irony is, he didn’t let me go. He made sure we remained friends. He stayed in my life. Our friendship brought us closer than our relationship ever could. He met my parents over Skype. I always alluded to what they did, the kind of home I was from, and he never asked again.
We didn’t get back together or get married; we stayed friends. Friends with the implication of a committed relationship. We got even closer during our Master's and Doctorate. We were meant to be everything, then I disappeared.
He’s probably married now. I’ll always be the girl that got away.
None of that should matter. He’s in my past. I try not to think of him. I have Roman now.
“A rom-com sounds perfect. Then, we make out?” I grin, throwing my arms over his shoulders.
He flushes, and I giggle because he’s so cute.
“Don’t you want to make out with me, baby?” I tease.
“Of course. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for and with you.” He kisses my cheeks tenderly.
Maybe this time can be right. Maybe my past won’t catch up with me.